Back in November, Laura threw out the idea for a special tea to celebrate Katie and Jamie turning forty. I concurred and the Tea Room that would be available for our party of seven was in Post Falls, Idaho. The tea was planned for the actual day that Katie turned forty. Even though Jamie does not turn forty until the middle of January this was the opportune time to celebrate since we’d all be together at Christmas time.

On Saturday morning, December 27th, our two vehicles started our drive to Post Falls at 10am. It was a 90 mile journey. Our vehicle spent some of the time having Katie try to recall her forty birthdays. She did incredibly well remembering almost all of them. Greg and my three children are now all in their forties!

Jamie’s mom, Katie, Addy, Jamie, Jamie’s Granny, Laura and me.

The birthday girls.

Four generations strong.

Me and our youngest, Katie.

Katie and Laura.

Our most wonderful daughters-in-law. It brings tears to my eyes to see how God has brought us all together and the deep friendships our ‘girls’ share.

Addy had a special seat because her servings would be a little varied from the adult servings. She was quite pleased.

Ready for our soup course, which was a surprise part of our tea along with an Amuse Bouche.

A pinkie finger photo collage.

Addy got a pot of hot chocolate besides some herbal tea.

Amuse-bouches are small, single-bite dishes meant to “amuse the mouth” and offer a glimpse into a chef’s style before the meal begins. We actually enjoyed these bites before the soup course. The one in the center was for Addy, a mac&cheese bite.

Her soup portion was in a smaller cup than ours.

Addy got her own two tiered tea offering and she thought that was very cool. Her sandwiches were peanut butter and Jam, Ham and Cheese, and a Cucumber Cream Cheese Christmas tree sandwich. (The Peanut Butter-Jam sandwiches were her favorite)

The other three tiered offerings were shared between two of us.

The sandwiches and scones are always my favorites. I think we all especially enjoyed the Chicken Salad Croissant.

The snickerdoodle scones were also a favorite!

Since this was still part of their ‘Special Christmas Tea Time’ the bread for the cucumber tea sandwiches were Christmas trees.

It is a good thing that the sweets are small portions.

The tea hostesses did all the tea pouring. There were two bells on the table and if there was anything we wanted or needed we could ring the bells to let them know.

There were several tea table areas besides ours and this one, above, is the only other one I took a photo of.

We had a lovely time being served and celebrating our girls in this special way.

I need to mention that the temperature on this day was 28 degrees and there was also a biting wind!

On the way home we took advantage of the lower gasoline prices in Idaho and filled up our vehicle before crossing into Washington State.

The drive back to Bayles’ mountain was smooth sailing and we got ready for our next birthday party for Katie, Jamie, Dan, and Josh! The Bayles Birthday Bonanza finale was epic. That will be another post.